Category: Money

I had no idea, but apparently there is world class poker in Russia. And I’m not even talking about Moscow or Saint Petersburg, but a city of Sochi. Yes, that very Sochi that hosted the Winter Olympic games in 2014. There is a casino there, called Sochi Casino and Resort, and it started to host regular big name tournaments. The very last festival they had, The WSOP Circuit Sochi, that ran from 13 to the 30 of May, 2018, brought a fairly big turnout. And the big European Poker Tour Sochi that ran in March of 2018 was even televized.

Paper and Paper Products – Why cut down millions of our trees that take 20 years to regrow, if we can get the fiber we need for our paper from industrial cannabis (Hemp), that takes 4 months to regrow?? Hemp is an excellent source of fiber for paper, newsprint, cardboard and packaging, as well as any other kind of specialty paper products.

Building Materials -Hemp hurd is the soft inner core of the hemp stem. It is highly absorbent and rich in cellulose which offers thermal and acoustic insulation. Fiberboard from hemp can be used in building, and furniture making. Hemp hurd can be used as fiberglass substitute and insulation substitute. Hempcrete, or Hemplime is a bio-composite material that is used for construction and insulation. It is easier to work with then traditional mixes, as it is lightweight and acts as an insulator and moisture regulator. It is not as brittle as concrete, and does not need expansion joints. It has been successfully used in France since the early 1990s, to construct non-weight bearing insulating infill walls, as Hempcrete does not have the required strength for constructing foundations, and is instead supported by the frame. It is a low density material, and its resistance to cracking makes it ideal for construction in areas with seismic activity.

Food Source – Hemp seeds are an excellent source of easily digestible protein. Hemp seeds could be used both raw and as oils they produce. The nut of the seed can be used in breads, salads, granola, cereals, hemp milk and dairy products, as well as protein powders. Hemp seeds can also be used as animal and bird feed.

Industrial and Consumer Chemicals – Apart from nutritional values hemp seeds can be used to produce oils which can substitute for fuels, lubricants, inks, varnishes, solvents, coatings, putty, paints and plastics. Consumers will benefit from hemp soap, shampoo, bath gels, creams, lotions, balms and other specialized cosmetics. (and I am not even including the medical marijuana market, this is strictly from the industrial cannabis, the hemp)

Aside from the obvious economic benefits we can derive from Hemp, there are many basic agricultural benefits from planting cannabis. Hemp can improve our air by absorbing large quantities of CO2, and releasing much needed oxygen. Hemp cultivation will help with soil improvement during crop rotation, as well as do wonders for the soils fertility. Deep roots are natural soil aerator and when hemp is grown in the same soil that has been drained of it’s nutrients by other cultures (like wheat and corn), it helps restore the soil balance quicker.

Event #32, The $1,000 buy-in Seniors NL Hold’em drew 5,918 entries and created an impressive prize pool of $5,326,200. This tells me one thing, old people like to play poker! In the end Matthew Davis, an amateur player from California took the bracelet and the $662,676 in prize money. This was Matthew’s third cash ever. Attaboy!!

Event #33, The $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship had 87 players and built up the prize pool to $4,176,000. The first place and the bracelet, along with the $1,239,126 prize money was claimed by Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. This is his fourth overall bracelet and the third time he is winning the $50k buy in championship. He took the same tournament in 2010 and 2012. This score brings his overall tournament earnings to just over $9 million. “The Grinder” defeated a tough final table on his way to his victory. Poker legend Phil Ivey busted out in 9th place and took $111,447 for his effort. Brian Rast, Greg Mueller, Aaron Katz, Benny Glaser, Mike Leah, Dan Smith and John Hennigan soon followed.

Event #34, The $1,000 buy-in DOUBLE STACK NL Hold’em attracted 5,700 players and built up the prize pool to $5,130,000. In the end, the big money ($644,224) and the bracelet went to Robert Peackock, a Las Vegas native. $644k is a great score, considering that the entry fee was only $1,000.

Event #35, The $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Big O (5-Card PLO/8)attracted 773 players, and brought the prize pool up to just over a million, $1,043,550 to be exact. 116 people made the money, but it was a Chinese player, Yueqi Zhu, who captured the title and the $211,781 to go with it.

Event #36, The $1,000 buy-in Super Seniors NL Hold’em attracted 2,191 players, and created a prize pool of $1,971,900. The bracelet and the $311,451 in prize money went to Farhintaj Bonyadi, from California. This was her first big cash.

Event #37, The $1,500 buy-in NL Hold’em event attracted 1,330 players and built the tournament prize pool to $1,795,500. The bracelet and the $319,580 were claimed by Eric Baldwin, a Nevada based poker pro. Several other poker pros made the final table, including Mathew Moore (9th place, $24,032), Michael Finstein (6th place and $55,077), Robert Georato (5th place, $74,434) and Aaron Massey (4th place, $101,819). Ian Steinman went heads up against Eric Baldwin, but had to settle for 2nd place and $197,461.

Event #38, The $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud Championship had 83 entrants and built the prize pool to $780,200. Thirteen people made money in that tournament, and the high honors (bracelet) went to Yaniv Birman, from Los Angeles, California. He pocketed $236,238 for the effort. This was Yaniv’s first WSOP bracelet.

Event #39, The $1,500 buy-in NL Hold’em Shootout attracted 908 players, and brought the tournament prize pool up to $1,225,800. In the end, it was an amateur player from California, Preston Lee, who captured the title and the $236,498 to go with it. This was Preston’s first major cash. Attaboy! Russian pro, Alexander Lakhov busted out in 8th place, and earned $24,728. Some other pros at the final table included Royce Matheson (7th place and $32,198), Young Phan (6th place, $42,476), Dylan Linde (4th place, $76,829) and Anthony Reategui who took 3rd place and $105,307. But it was an amateur player, Corey Dodd who went heads up, and eventually settled for second place and $146,146.

Event #40, The $2,500 buy-in Mixed Big Bet tournament attracted 205 players, and generated a prize pool of $461,250. When it was all over, the bracelet and the top prize of $122,138 were claimed by Scott Bohlman, a professional poker player from Illinois. This is Scott’s first bracelet.

Event #41, The $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament attracted 596 players and created a prize pool of $804,600. In the end, the bracelet and the $173,568 went to Robert Nehorayan, from Sherman Oaks, California.

Event #25, The $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better tournament drew 596 entrants and created a prize pool of $804,600. A young British poker professional Benjamin Dobson took the first prize money and the bracelet. He earned $173,528 for his victory. Several poker pros made the final table, including Tom McCormick (5th place, $37,504), Jesse Martin (3rd place and $74,324) and Tim Finne who ended up taking 2nd place and $107,243.

Event #26, The $1,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omahaattracted 986 players and created a prize pool of $887,400. The coveted bracelet and the $169,842 went to Filippos Stavrakis from Maryland.

Event #27, The $10,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament drew 166 entries and created a prize pool of $1,560,400. The bracelet and the $414,692 went to John Hennigan, who overcame a stacked final table to gain this victory. The final table was full of poker pros. Australian poker pro Robert Campbell took 9th place and $31,656. Michael Noori went out in 8th place and earned $40,155 for the effort. Next to bust out was Daniel Zack, who earned $52,016 for 7th place. Randy Ohel busted in 5th place and took home $92,808. Laith Salem went out in 3rd place with $179,216 in his pocket. And David “Bakes” Baker went heads up against our champion, but could not do anything against him and ended up in 2nd place with a $256,297 payday.

Event #28, The $3,000 buy-in NL Hold’em 6-Handed attracted 868 players and built the prize pool to an impressive $2,343,600. Very beautiful Ana Marquez from Spain made the final table, but busted out in 6th place with $67,116. James Mackey ended up in 2nd place with a $285,377 payday. And the first place and the bracelet and the $461,798 went to Gal Yifrach from Los Angeles.

Event #29, The $1,500 buy-in Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw tournament attracted 356 players, and built the prize pool to $480,600. Hanh Tran from Austria took the bracelet and the $117,282 in prize money.

Event #30, The $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha attracted 799 players and built the prize pool to $1,078,650. In the end, Ryan Bambrick from New Jersey was crowned champion, and received the bracelet and the $217,123 in prize money.

Event #31, The $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud attracted 310 players and built the prize pool up to $418,500. Several poker pros made the final table, including Michael “Big Score” Moore (7th place, $11,095), Paul Sexton (6th place and $15,096), Frankie O’Dell (5th place, $21,035), Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (4th place, $29,999), and Jeff Lisandro who finished 2nd and got $65,282 for the effort. But it was Steven Albini who captured the title, and the $105,629 go with it.

Continuing with the overview of the 2018 World Series Of Poker, that is currently going at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. I pick up right where I left off yesterday, (before I realized how many millionaires were made in the first two weeks of the tournament series.) with event number 17 the $1, 500 no-limit Hold’em 6 handed.

Event #17, The $1, 500 NL Hold’em 6-Handed attracted 1,663 players, and generated a prize pool of $2,245,050. This was a truly international tournament. Final table saw representatives from United States, Italy, Bulgaria and China. In the end, it was a Bulgarian player, Ognyan Dimov, who took the coveted bracelet and $378,743 in 1st place money. The Bulgarian native overcame a tough final table, stacked with poker talent. Joey Weissman (5th place, $83,396), Ryan D’Angelo (4th place, $116,118) and Nick Schulman (3rd place, $163,785) all fell before an the two amateurs went heads up. In the end, Ognyan Dimov took 1st and left the 2nd for Antonio Barbato from Italy. I doubt Antonio was complaining. This is his first big cash.

Event #18, The $10,000 buy-in Dealers Choice 6-Handed drew 111 entrants, and had a combined prize pool of $1,043,400. The big prize and the bracelet went to Adam Friedman, a poker pro from Ohio. This was Adam’s second WSOP bracelet, and it came with a $293,275 payday. Adam had to defeat an all pro final table. He passed Marco Johnson (6th place, $47,579), David “ODB” Baker (5th place and $65,308), Chris Klodnicki (4th place, $90,713) and Russian poker pro Alexey Makarov (who took 3rd place and $127,487), before going heads up with a British poker pro Stuart Rutter. Rutter finished in 2nd place and took home $181,258.

Event #19, The $565 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha attracted 2,419 players, and built up the prize pool to $1,209,500. From those 2419 only 350 made money, with the biggest prize ($181,790) and the bracelet going to Craig Varnell. Aside from the Colorado based champion, the only other pro at the table was the Canadian Jonathan Duhamel, who took 5th place and $33,477 in prize money. The rest of the final table was amateur.

Event #20, The $5,000 buy-in Big Blind Antes NL Hold’em saw 518 entries, and generated a prize pool of $2,408,700. The Champion’s bracelet and the $537,710 in prize money went to a New York based poker pro Jeremy Wien. This is Wein’s first WSOP bracelet. To get to the poker world’s top honor Jeremy had to slide past such experienced professionals as David Peters (7th place, $60,618), Shawn Buchanan (6th place, $82,199), Jake Schindler (4th place, $159,575) and Eric Blair who finished 3rd and took home $228, 307.

Event #21, The $1,500 buy-in NL Hold’em MILLIONAIRE MAKER drew an imressive field of 7,361 entrants, and generated a hefty prize pool of almost 10 million dollars ($9,937,350 to be exact). With 1,105 pay spots, lots of people were looking at some serious money. But at the end, the top prize of $1,173,223 went to a young amateur player from Germany, Arne Kern. This marks Arne’s third ever cash. Attaboy! Arne made it all the way to the top despite the presence of several tough opponents at the Final Table. Ralph Massey took 8th place and $135,383, Barny Boatman ended up in the 7th place and pocketed $175,865, Justin Liberto busted in 5th place and was awarded $303,294, Michael Souza took 4th place and $402,614 and Joe McKeehen ended up in 3rd with $538,276 in tournament winnings.

Event #22, The $1,500 Eight Game Mix tournament drew 481 players and generated a prize pool of $649,350. The bracelet and the $147,348 top prize went to a young British pro Philip Long. Some other notable names at the Final Table included Per Hildebrand from Sweden (5th place, $27,587), John Racener (4th place and $40,151) and Daniel Negreanu who ended up in 3rd place with $59,788 in prize money.

Event #23, The $10,000 buy-in NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship attracted 95 players and generated a prize pool of $893,000. Wow, talk about a star studded final table! John Hennigan (7th place, $32,796), Doyle Brunson, the Legend Himself (6th place and $43,963), Mike Wattel (3rd place, $160,489) and the top prize goes to Brian Rast. This is Rast’s fourth bracelet.

Event #24, The $2,620 NL Hold’em THE MARATHON tournament attracted 1,637 players, and generated a prize pool of $3,860,046. Another international Final Table, with players from the United States, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong and Belarus all fighting for the Gold Bracelet. When it was decided, Michael Addamo from Australia claimed the first place and the $653,581 in prize money.

Our President Donald Trump’s just tweeted that the United States is insisting that ALL countries that have placed artificial trade barriers and tariffs on goods impoted from our country must remove those barriers and tariffs or face even more tariffs.

So basically he is saying WE are allowed to impose tariffs on your shit, but you are not.